Tiered cots, with one cot positioned above another cot, are well known. The following United States patents are examples of tiered: U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,401 (Davis 1963), U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,367 (Bradford 1969) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,327 (Severson 1976). The use of tiered cots enables more personnel or more gear to be positioned in a confined area, such as a tent, by taking advantage of available vertical space.
The most common form of cot presently in use is a cross-legged folding cot. The cross-legged folding cot has supplanted other cot configurations, due to their ability to fold into a relatively compact form. There is no known tiered cot configuration that uses cross-legged folding cots.